Title: Nesting

Rating: T

Disclaimer: dis- (not); claim- (mine); -er (no, really)

Summary: Zuko's sulking, Sokka's hormonal... Katara's pretty something's wrong with her brother, if only she could figure it out. Zukka.

Warnings: Sort of M-preg but not really. And established relationship.

...oh, also, first AtLA story that I've written that's made it this far. Yay.

Enjoy. :)

Katara frowned at her brother. He had been acting strangely – well, more so than usual – for the last few weeks. It was surprising that she hadn't noticed earlier.

Sokka kept rubbing his chest like it hurt. She'd offered to heal it on more than one occasion, but he'd snap at her when she came too close. He'd become very snappy as of late.

And what was weirder – he barely ate anything! Not that he'd be able to keep it down for long… he'd been getting sick a lot, too.

Zuko, despite trying to be the most helpful to her poor pitiful brother, seemed to receive the brunt of Sokka's ire. She wasn't complaining – it was rather funny to watch Zuko mope around after him for whatever reasons he did. Katara didn't want to ask – she'd had her suspicions about him from the start. The looks he sent Sokka only seemed to confirm her theories.

Whether Sokka returned those feelings, however, was a complete mystery. And with his near-constant shifts in mood, she doubted she would ever be able to tell.

Hell! She thought she was the girl!

He even had more fashion sense. His belt just had to match his man bag – which they all knew was really a purse. And he'd willingly put on a dress, despite claiming it was traditional warrior garb.

Of course, there had been Suki. And Yue.

But… he had spent and awful long time with lovey-dovey dancing nomads…

Maybe she should just ask him? He couldn't get too mad… could he?

"Stop trying to touch my nipples!"

Watching with wide eyes as Zuko stalked away from her brother like a kicked moose-lion cub, Katara thought that maybe she'd just wait for him to come to her.

-

Well, at least he was back to normal… if craving seaweed cookies and fireflakes was normal, of course. Then again, her brother had always been weird. Especially in his food choices.

Who was she to fault him?

But poor Zuko… she wondered, vaguely, if he'd caught the same thing as Sokka. He'd been looking quite haggard lately, and exasperated whenever Sokka pulled him into the woods to talk… or whatever it was two teenage boys did in the woods.

Toph tended to buddy-up to Appa whenever they went off together, her feet securely off the ground and her mind taken over by Momo's happy chattering.

It made Katara think that Toph knew something she didn't.

But then she'd remind herself: who knew her brother better than she did?

Zuko and Sokka were probably just ostrich-horsing around. Or talking boy-stuff or something. It was hard to tell with those two.

No matter. Sokka was back to normal. And if Zuko returned to camp a little red in the cheeks… well, she didn't know him well enough to know if that was normal or not.

…had he really tried to touch her brother's nipples?

She was definitely going to keep a better eye on him.

-

So…

Sokka wasn't better.

If anything, he was worse. How that was possible, Katara had no idea.

But he kept doing the laundry. And cooking. And cleaning.

…and it was possible he was stealing things from the rest of them.

She didn't have any proof yet, but she'd get it.

Was he gaining weight?

-

Sokka was definitely getting worse. And gaining weight.

Zuko, much to her delight, had found that out the hard way when he'd answered truthfully to Sokka's question of Do I look fat to you? A week and his cheek was still red.

Despite the fact that Zuko seemed to be the only one who wanted to put up with Sokka… well, he'd become quite annoying, really. He was her brother, but even family got to be too much sometimes.

Sokka seemed to wash and fold clothes all day long.

If he wasn't doing laundry, he was washing Appa and Momo. Or Aang.

Once, Katara was sure, he'd even tried to wash Zuko. Broody Firebender and cold water, however, didn't seem to make too good of a mix.

And he'd taken to rearranging camp. Almost constantly.

Sometimes, she'd wake up in the middle of the night and he'd be shifting sleeping bags around, stacking firewood, organizing their supplies… Usually she'd just roll over and go back to sleep… and usually he'd still be up, doing the same things, the next time she got up.

Katara was starting to feel sorry for poor Zuko.

Sokka was pushing him around. He slept about as much as her brother did, and was usually bullied into helping with his midnight madness.

He'd taken over Zuko's bed, too; had pulled it away to lay under the shade of a nearby tree.

And tucked beneath a pillow she'd found something from all of them.

Aang's marble.

Toph's family seal.

One of her own hair clips.

His boomerang.

And… Zuko's wanted poster?

Suddenly, she wasn't only worried about Sokka's health, but his sanity as well.

-

Why hadn't she seen it before?

Katara smacked herself in the forehead for what felt like the millionth time. She probably had a red mark now, too.

She'd seen it with the women at the village back home, had seen it in countless animals through the years.

But her brother? Was that even possible?

Looking across the campfire at the little nest he'd made for himself and Zuko it certainly seemed possible… But Sokka and Zuko? Together? Then that would mean…

How long had they been together?

She was seriously going to have to talk to them about proper protection…

Still, the fact that her brother, of all people, was nesting…?

Hell, he'd even started babying Aang. And cradling Momo.

Katara figured that if he tried to start breastfeeding Appa she was going to give herself to Azula and beg for death. Or sanity.

At that point, she'd figure she'd take anything.

-

She was going to kill her brother!

Not only was he an idiot, but he was a loud idiot who evidently didn't know what privacy was! And to think there were children around…

And Zuko! He was right out there with Sokka!

…or, rather, right down there…

Either way, they should both know better!

But… it did explain the last several months… and why Toph had started sleeping on Appa's tail. Katara wished she had that luxury.

"Gods… Sokka…"

Katara rolled over and covered her ears with her hands. She was not hearing this. Definitely not.

"Just put it in already!"

This was not happening.

"Are you sure…? What about…?"

Well, if anything, at least Zuko was considerate of her brother.

"I want to have your baby."

Katara's jaw fell open. Had her brother really just said those words?

"Isn't that what you said last time? Do you remember what happened? You started nesting. You thought you really were carrying my baby."

"No. No, I distinctly remember there being more than one. Three, actually," Sokka corrected. "And hey! I bet our clothes have never been cleaner!"

Zuko actually chuckled. "Or Appa."

This was their pillow talk? Oh, that was it!

There was a sudden wave of cold water doused over them, followed by two hollow, girly shrieks – so they had been naked! – and Katara stood threateningly over them, hands on her hips.

"If you don't shut up, I'll make sure you can never go through another false pregnancy again – either of you – ever!" She started to turn, but then whirled back on them with a glare. "And if either you two ingrates thought to use protection you wouldn't have been put in that situation!"

Sokka let out a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "Haha… yeah. We did, actually. Didn't seem to help much, huh?"

…and her forehead was back to being red again. Why did her brother have to be such an idiot? And for a prince… Zuko wasn't much better.

"…so, where we left off?" Sokka asked under his breath.

"I can still hear you!"

"Uh… tomorrow maybe?"

The crackling sound of water freezing had never sounded so good.

A/N: Honestly... I have no idea where the idea came from. It just hit me. Literally. One word and... this.